SPIE Names 2014 Award Winners

BELLINGHAM, Wash., March 18, 2014 — SPIE has announced its 2014 award recipients, who are being honored for their outstanding achievements in the industry.

And the winners are:

SPIE Gold Medal Award: James Harrington of Rutgers University for his contributions to the field of specialty fiber optics and for his pioneering work in the development of IR transmissive fiber optics and its applications in laser power delivery, chemical and thermal sensing, and spectroscopy.

Britton Chance Biomedical Optics Award: Brian Wilson of the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research for his many contributions to biomedical optics over the past 30 years, including his pioneering work in photodynamic therapy.

Biophotonics Technology Innovator Award: Naomi Halas of Rice University in recognition of her invention of biocompatible nanoparticles and their innovative applications in imaging, diagnostics and photothermal cancer therapy.

A.E. Conrady Award: Matthew Rimmer of Optical Research Associates in California for his contributions to optical design algorithm development, including his work in the area of wavefront differential tolerancing.

Dennis Gabor Award: Pramod Rastogi of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in recognition of his groundbreaking research in the development of high-resolution and multicomponent parametric phase formulation methods for the simultaneous estimation of multiple phases and their derivatives from holographic interference patterns.

George W. Goddard Award: James Bock of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California for his development of sensitive bolometer arrays for studies of distant, dusty galaxies and the cosmic microwave background radiation. This work led to their use on the Spectral and Photometric Imaging Receiver on the Herschel Space Telescope and the High Frequency Instrument on the Planck Surveyor spacecraft.

G.G. Stokes Award: J. Scott Tyo of the University of Arizona for his contributions to the theory of polarimeter optimization, the characterization and calibration of polarimeters, and to the understanding of microgrid polarimeter data processing.

Chandra S. Vikram Award in Optical Metrology: Rajpal Sirohi of Tezpur University in India for his contributions to applied optics and for spreading his knowledge internationally.

Frits Zernike Award in Microlithography: Mordechai Rothschild of MIT’s Lincoln Lab for his leadership in programs that have enabled the advancement of nanolithography in the deep-UV and the vacuum-UV.

Early Career Achievement Award: Jeremy Munday of the University of Maryland for his innovative experimental and theoretical work on photonic engineering for solar energy devices and Casimir forces.

SPIE Educator Award: Cristina Solano of Centro de Investigaciones en Optica of Mexico for her contributions to optics education and outreach, and for extending the knowledge of science, in particular optics, to children and teenagers.

SPIE Technology Achievement Award: Rajendra Singh of Clemson University for his elucidation and exploitation of photonic effects in rapid thermal processing for semiconductor manufacturing, and for his technical leadership in the field of photovoltaic technology.